Born 1570 Died seventeenth century
In 1595 the Dutch sent out their first great trading expedition to the East Indies under the command of Cornelis de Houtman (see entry). The expedition was made up of four ships that were built in Amsterdam. The fourth and smallest was a three-masted “yacht” of 50 tons named the Duifken (Little Dove) that was destined to play a major role in history. The ships left Amsterdam in 1595 and returned on August 14, 1597. The voyage was such a commercial success for the Dutch merchants that they sent out a second fleet in 1598.
Dutch East India Company formed
The Dutch continued to enjoy a profitable sea trade and in 1601 formed the Dutch East India Company. The new company sponsored two expeditions before 1605. The Duifken sailed on both of these voyages; in a battle with the Portuguese off Bantam, on the west coast of Java, the small ship distinguished itself by capturing a much larger galley. The second expedition was commanded by Admiral Van der Hagen, who returned to Holland at the end of July 1606. He left behind in Bantam the two small yachts in his fleet, the Delft and the Duifken, giving them special missions: the Delft went on a reconnaissance trip to the east coast of India and the Duifken was to explore the south coast of New Guinea.
Sails for New Guinea
Willem Janszoon was put in command of the Duifken, which left Bantam for New Guinea on November 28, 1605. Sailing through the Banda Sea past the Kai and Aru islands, Janszoon sighted the southwest corner of New Guinea at Dolak Island. He guided the Duifken into what is now called the Torres Strait, where it ran into shallow water. Concluding he had encountered a body of water with no outlet, Janszoon turned southward. Following a route that would prove to be an unfamiliar one, Janszoon sailed down the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula on the east side of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Discovers Australia
Janszoon thought they were traveling along the coast of New Guinea. The Dutch had in fact discovered Australia, a continent long sought by explorers and known for several centuries as Terras Australis, or the great southern continent. The Duifken thus joined the small number of European ships, including Christopher Columbus
’s (see entry) Niña and Pinta, that sailed to an unknown continent for the first time
. Janszoon’s men were also the first Europeans to meet the Australian Aborigines. This encounter ended tragically, however: when the Dutch went ashore to trade with the Aborigines, nine crew members were killed.
According to some accounts a Portuguese navigator, Manuel Godhino de Eredia, sighted Australia in 1601, five years before Janszoon. Several historians, however, have verified that the Dutch party made the first visit to the continent; Janszoon is therefore generally credited with being the first European to sight Australia.
Australia remains unexplored
A few months after Janszoon’s discovery, the Spanish explorer Luis Vaez de Torres sailed through the straits between Australia and New Guinea, which were later named in his honor. But the Spaniards did not sight Australia and were unaware that they had sailed between two great landmasses. When Janszoon returned to Java, he reported that the land he had found was desolate, with no opportunities for trade, which was of primary interest to the Dutch. Seventeen years later another Dutch captain, Jan Carstenszoon, retraced Janszoon’s route and came back with an equally unfavorable report.
The Dutch did not return to the continent, except for accidental landings. The most important of these occurred in 1616 when Captain Dirk Hartog sailed too far east in the Indian Ocean and landed on the west coast of Western Australia. Consequently the Dutch knew there was a great landmass south of New Guinea, and they named it New Holland
; yet they did not investigate the possibility that New Holland was separate from New Guinea. The continent remained unexplored for more than 150 years, until James Cook (see entry) claimed the fertile east coast for Great Britain in 1770.
William Dampier
==Influence
==
Dampier influenced several figures better known than he:
He is cited over a thousand times in the Oxford English Dictionary notably on words such as 'barbecue', 'avocado', 'chopsticks' and 'sub-species'. That is not to say he coined the words, but his use of them in his writings is the first known example in English.
His notes on the fauna and flora of northwestern Australia were studied by naturalist and scientist Joseph Banks, who made further studies during the first voyage with Captain James Cook. This helped lead to the naming of and colonization of Botany Bay and the founding of modern Australia.
He is mentioned in the Gabriel García Márquez short story The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship.
In 2001, a team from the Western Australian Museum located the place where the //Roebuck// was lost, identifying the site by the location of a bell inscribed with a "broad arrow" consistent with those fitted to Fifth Rates, a clam shell from the Indo-Pacific and from other indications. After being replicated at the Mary Rose Laboratories in Portsmouth, the originals returned to the island where they are now on exhibit. The long lost contract for building the ship was later found and an analysis and model of the ship Roebuck have since been produced.
==Honours
==
The port of Dampier and the Dampier Archipelago, both in Western Australia, are named in honour of William Dampier.
In 1985 he was honoured by Australia Post issuing a postage stamp depicting his portrait. [1]
Explorers Unit -Year 4/5
Indigenous Australians
1. In the beginning Continental drift video.2.Continental drift animation Bering Land Bridge
3. The Devils Lair (WA)
4 . Koonalda Cave (SA)
5. Lake Mungo (NSW) See map below. What did they find at Lake Mungo?
6. Aboriginal people and trade with the Macassan people.
7. What is a dugong?
8. A Dream Time Story Click on the Mimis Draw a story map of the Mimis story
Click here to download explorers web quest.doc Save the file and then open it and then save the file to your documents folder.
The Arrival of Europeans
The Dutch BOOKRAGS STAFF. "Willem Janszoon". 2005. July 21 2010. <http://www.bookrags.com/research/willem-janszoon-ued/>.
====Willem Janszoon
==
Born 1570Died seventeenth century
In 1595 the Dutch sent out their first great trading expedition to the East Indies under the command of Cornelis de Houtman (see entry). The expedition was made up of four ships that were built in Amsterdam. The fourth and smallest was a three-masted “yacht” of 50 tons named the Duifken (Little Dove) that was destined to play a major role in history. The ships left Amsterdam in 1595 and returned on August 14, 1597. The voyage was such a commercial success for the Dutch merchants that they sent out a second fleet in 1598.
Dutch East India Company formed
The Dutch continued to enjoy a profitable sea trade and in 1601 formed the Dutch East India Company. The new company sponsored two expeditions before 1605. The Duifken sailed on both of these voyages; in a battle with the Portuguese off Bantam, on the west coast of Java, the small ship distinguished itself by capturing a much larger galley. The second expedition was commanded by Admiral Van der Hagen, who returned to Holland at the end of July 1606. He left behind in Bantam the two small yachts in his fleet, the Delft and the Duifken, giving them special missions: the Delft went on a reconnaissance trip to the east coast of India and the Duifken was to explore the south coast of New Guinea.
Sails for New Guinea
Willem Janszoon was put in command of the Duifken, which left Bantam for New Guinea on November 28, 1605. Sailing through the Banda Sea past the Kai and Aru islands, Janszoon sighted the southwest corner of New Guinea at Dolak Island. He guided the Duifken into what is now called the Torres Strait, where it ran into shallow water. Concluding he had encountered a body of water with no outlet, Janszoon turned southward. Following a route that would prove to be an unfamiliar one, Janszoon sailed down the west coast of the Cape York Peninsula on the east side of the Gulf of Carpentaria.
Discovers Australia
Janszoon thought they were traveling along the coast of New Guinea. The Dutch had in fact discovered Australia, a continent long sought by explorers and known for several centuries as Terras Australis, or the great southern continent. The Duifken thus joined the small number of European ships, including Christopher
Columbus
’s (see entry) Niña and Pinta, that sailed to an unknown continent
for the first time
. Janszoon’s men were also the first Europeans to meet the Australian Aborigines. This encounter ended tragically, however: when the Dutch went ashore to trade with the Aborigines, nine crew members were killed.
According to some accounts a Portuguese navigator, Manuel Godhino de Eredia, sighted Australia in 1601, five years before Janszoon. Several historians, however, have verified that the Dutch party made the first visit to the continent; Janszoon is therefore generally credited with being the first European to sight Australia.
Australia remains unexplored
A few months after Janszoon’s discovery, the Spanish explorer Luis Vaez de Torres sailed through the straits between Australia and New Guinea, which were later named in his honor. But the Spaniards did not sight Australia and were unaware that they had sailed between two great landmasses. When Janszoon returned to Java, he reported that the land he had found was desolate, with no opportunities for trade, which was of primary interest to the Dutch. Seventeen years later another Dutch captain, Jan Carstenszoon, retraced Janszoon’s route and came back with an equally unfavorable report.
The Dutch did not return to the continent, except for accidental landings. The most important of these occurred in 1616 when Captain Dirk Hartog sailed too far east in the Indian Ocean and landed on the west coast of Western Australia. Consequently the Dutch knew there was a great landmass south of New Guinea, and they named it
New Holland
; yet they did not investigate the possibility that New Holland was separate from New Guinea. The continent remained unexplored for more than 150 years, until James Cook (see entry) claimed the fertile east coast for Great Britain in 1770.
William Dampier
==Influence==
Dampier influenced several figures better known than he:
- His observations and analysis of natural history helped Charles Darwin's and Alexander von Humboldt's development of their theories,
- He made innovations in navigation technology that were studied by James Cook and Horatio Nelson.
- Daniel Defoe, author of Robinson Crusoe, was inspired by accounts of real-life castaway Alexander Selkirk, a crew-member on Dampier's voyages.[2]
- His reports on breadfruit led to William Bligh's ill-fated voyage in HMS //Bounty//.
- He is cited over a thousand times in the Oxford English Dictionary notably on words such as 'barbecue', 'avocado', 'chopsticks' and 'sub-species'. That is not to say he coined the words, but his use of them in his writings is the first known example in English.
- His travel journals depicting Panama influenced the undertaking of the ill-fated Darien Scheme, leading to the Act of Union of 1707.
- His notes on the fauna and flora of northwestern Australia were studied by naturalist and scientist Joseph Banks, who made further studies during the first voyage with Captain James Cook. This helped lead to the naming of and colonization of Botany Bay and the founding of modern Australia.
- He is mentioned in the Gabriel García Márquez short story The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship.
- Jonathan Swift explicitly mentions Dampier in his Gulliver's Travels as a mariner comparable to Lemuel Gulliver.
- He is believed to have influenced the writing of Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner".
In 2001, a team from the Western Australian Museum located the place where the //Roebuck// was lost, identifying the site by the location of a bell inscribed with a "broad arrow" consistent with those fitted to Fifth Rates, a clam shell from the Indo-Pacific and from other indications. After being replicated at the Mary Rose Laboratories in Portsmouth, the originals returned to the island where they are now on exhibit. The long lost contract for building the ship was later found and an analysis and model of the ship Roebuck have since been produced.==Honours
==
The port of Dampier and the Dampier Archipelago, both in Western Australia, are named in honour of William Dampier.
In 1985 he was honoured by Australia Post issuing a postage stamp depicting his portrait. [1]